


Bisclavret (The Werewolf)

by galaxiebot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Werewolf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 18:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8588674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxiebot/pseuds/galaxiebot
Summary: This is a retelling of a Medieval poem by Marie De France I wrote for my Halloween special on Tumblr and forgot to post here.It quite literally a story about a knight who turns into a werewolf, with a bit of a modern twist to it, I had a lot of fun writing it, I hope you all enjoy!!





	1. Chapter 1

It is difficult, when telling lais, to forget the story of Bisclavret as it is called in Breton; the Normans call it Garwaf; but it is best known as The Werewolf. In the day of its writing, people often spoke of those who would turn into werewolves and keep house in the woods. The werewolf is a wild beast, when it is in that frenzy, it devours people and causes a great deal of trouble.

Now, the story goes as follows: In Brittany, in the time of kings and barons, there lived a good knight who was baron to a kind and deserving king. He was marvelously praised, a noble and handsome knight named Keith, who was good and loyal to his king. Keith was dear to his lord, and beloved by all his neighbors. He even had a lady who seemed worthy and lovely for him to marry one day.

He loved her and she him, but she was wary of just one thing about her dear Keith. Each week, she lost him for about three days. She did not know what became of him, nor did she know where he went, nor did any of her neighbors know where the knight was, their lack of concern making the lady wrought with worry. So one day, the lady asked Keith when he came back.

“Lord,” she said, “my beloved lord. There is something I wish to ask you, but I fear the rift it might create between us. Your anger might get the best of you.”

Keith took her words carefully, embracing her delicately and kissing her. He was gentle, a hand on her sweet face as he assured her, “lady, just ask. You could never say a thing to me that I will not tell you, nor would put me in such a rage as you speak of.”

“Thank you for your assurance my love.” She kissed him sweetly and put her arms around his neck, holding him as she had many times before. “Lord, I am weak and anxious on those days when I lose you. I fear you will never return to me. I have such a fear, that I will die from it soon if I do not have some reassurance on the matter. It is my belief that you are in love with another, and if so, you have done me great wrong.”

“Lady,” he said, “by mercy God! We are to be married, the only people I love are you and my dear king. Great trouble will come to me if I tell you where I got. If I were to tell you, I would divide you from my love and destroy myself. I will hear no more of this, please.”

The lady realized this was no joke he was making. However, she would not let it go. She asked him quite often where he went and who he stayed with as if she was compelled to keep asking, always sounding accusing and annoyed. The lady became so frustrating to deal with, that eventually, Keith gave in.

“Lady, I become a werewolf, and then I go to the center of the great forest and I live on prey and the land.” After he had told her everything, and how he often spent his days in the woods feeling like he was more himself than he ever was at home, she asked him whether he wore clothes or went without. “I go quite naked,” he said it as an obvious fact, “I hide my clothes, and I carry on as a wolf.”

“Where do you keep them?” She inquired. He frowned, rather disliking her insistence. Keith felt he had bared his soul to her and she was focused on her compulsive questions and the things that didn’t really matter.

“I cannot tell you that!” Keith said, “If I were to lose my clothes while I was a werewolf, I would never be able to turn back into a man. For this reason, I cannot tell you where I hide the clothes. Lady, please understand.”

“I love you more than the world my dear knight, you must not hide a thing from me for you love me as well as I love you. Mistrust does not seem like friendship.” She was firm about her inquiry, bringing it up to him again and again until Keith finally decided he needed to tell her, or he would go mad trying not to.

“Lady,” he said, “every week, I go to the old Church bend on one knee and say a prayer, then, I walk around the Church to a small lane that leads out into the woods, there in a stout cobblestone wall with loose stones, I leave my clothes. This is all I can tell you, now please my dear wife, leave this matter be.”

But the Lady could not stop thinking about this, she turned red with anger and green with disgust, her thoughts consumed by her husband’s deeds. She became compelled by her thoughts of her knight in the woods as a wolf, calling upon a knight of a friendly land who had been trying to court her for a great deal of time. When he arrived in her home, Keith was in the woods for the week, running in the woods as a wolf.

“Sir Sendak,” she said, “I am in love with you and I wish to reciprocate your feelings. I wish for the two of us to be married.” The woman did not know of Sendak’s evil or cruelty, but she was confident that he could pluck her out of this situation without much trouble. Sendak agreed quickly, taking the lady into his arms, but she stopped him. “First, my loving lord, I must ask you to do me one favor.”

“Lady,” Sendak said, “I will do whatever you ask.” For Sendak had set his plans in motion long ago, whispering in this woman’s ear in hopes of gaining her favor. He had been the one to first ask her where Keith went each week first, and now she had been compelled to come to him when she needed help. Sendak’s plan was working well, and soon he’d be Baron in Keith’s place.

“Then I ask that you go to the old Church and find the lane that leads to the woods. If you follow it, you will find a small cobblestone wall,” she gave him every instruction that he needed to find the knight’s clothes, and Sir Sendak followed them without question to the surprise of the lady. When he returned with the clothes, they hid them in the darkest corner of their house and were wed very quickly.

When Keith returned to the cobblestone wall to find his clothes gone, he knew that his dear lady had betrayed him. He howled miserably and wandered the woods in despair, accepting his fate.


	2. Chapter 2

Wherever the king went, the werewolf did not care to be apart from him, following his every order, and appearing to be just as noble and kind as his namesake had been. The king could see that the werewolf loved him just as well as he loved it, and the Lords had no heart to protest as their King finally started to come out of his melancholy.

But the king Brittany, a fairly young king who had yet to make a name for himself, was in just the same despair, parties of Lords searching for any sign of King Lance’s long lost Baron, the well respected knight caused the king a great deal of pain. Still when hunting season came, and the king found time to be out in the woods, hunting among his Lords, he hoped he would come across some scrap of Keith the search parties had missed.

There seemed to be nothing left of his dear knight, and the King was giving up hope, all he wished for was a sign of even his knight’s body. Something he could bury and mourn over, but no sign ever came. Instead with his hunting party in tow, the king searched the forest for any animal he could destroy, taking out his anger and grief as he drove arrows into the hearts of wild game.

He came home with feasts, and he was celebrated for his ability to provide, for even the lowest of beggars had food because of King Lance’s grief. They all spoke silently of him, and his closest Lords and counsel met regularly, thinking of things they could do to help the poor King who was liable to go down in history as Lance the Melancholy if he wasn’t careful. The problem was that the Lords all knew that the only thing that would lift the King’s spirits was finding his missing knight.

“I’ll go down to the house where Keith lived. Maybe the lady he was going to marry will have some ideas of where he’s gone.” Allura, the Baron of the neighboring county nodded firmly, hoping that answers would lead them to a sign of the missing Knight. But Pidge, the Knight from the county opposite Keith’s scoffed at the idea.

“She’s already married. She’s hardly noticed that he’s gone. She probably won’t know a thing, and if she does, she won’t tell.” Pidge crossed their arms and looked to Shiro, the Baron of the county closest to the King’s castle, “could we find a way to track Keith? Maybe the dogs could still hold his scent.”

Shiro shook his head gravely, “we’ve already tried that twice. We need new ideas.”

“What if it’s Zarkon? This could be his way of working into the kingdom, the knight who married the lady Keith had been engaged to is from his country and we haven’t always been peaceful.” Hunk, a vast knight who worked directly under the king himself, tapped on the table nervously. He did not like meeting in secret, even if this wasn’t against King Lance, he worried. He worried about everything.

“It can’t be Zarkon, that war has been over for years now, since our ancestors were in our place. Even if there was still some concern, Pidge has intelligence that Zarkon is after the kingdom to the South, not Brittany,” Allura said. Hunk continued tapping anyway.

They had many meetings like this, consulting anyone they knew they could trust, but still their dear King stayed in his depression, the only thing keeping him moving being thoughts of hunting. Shiro and Hunk went into the woods with him almost daily, and still they never saw the Knight that was so greatly missed.

Sometimes, Lance went out on his own, sneaking away from his hunting party to talk to his horse and the trees, hoping that it would bring him some rest. He found himself tracking a bear in short time, a risky thing to hunt on his own, but it was more exhilarating than foxes or rabbits. His hunt was cut short at the sight of what he mistook as great lone wolf standing at the carcass of the bear, his mouth red with thick blood, but he was really looking for his dear knight, the werewolf.

Lance watched the werewolf for a moment, drawing his bow, because another wolf pelt was another blanket for his shivering citizens. To his surprise, at the sight of the bow, the werewolf bowed and backed away from the bear as if conceding it to Lance. At that, the werewolf was gone, and Lance was left with only the bear carcass which he stripped himself quickly, taking the meat and pelt behind his horse. When he returned, Hunk skittishly suggested that Lance get him before he go out to hunt again, and Lance agreed.

The next time he saw the werewolf it was tracking the same deer as Lance was on, but Lance had his whole party with him this time, and his dogs quickly turned on the werewolf. Fearing for its life, the werewolf ran to Lance’s side, bowing and licking his boot. With a whistle, Lance sent the dogs off, looking down at the werewolf’s dark eyes. He turned his head to his Lords who watched in fear of their King being mauled in their presence.

“This beast has intelligence and understanding. I want all these dogs away from me.” Lance turned around at once, “I shall extend my peace to it, and hunt no more today.”

The Lords were so surprised by this that not a single one protested, and as the werewolf followed King Lance, so did the Lords. They were more taken aback when they returned to the castle, and the King led the werewolf inside, beckoning it to feast with them. The werewolf made the King very happy, it was delightful to him to have something so loyal and dear with him again. It so reminded him of his missing knight, that he named the werewolf after Keith.

Lance commanded all his people to take good care of the werewolf in the name of the King. It would be given plenty to eat and drink, and no one was ever to strike it. In turn, the werewolf was just as loyal to the people that fed it. Every night, the werewolf slept close to the King, and among the knights of the castle there was no patriot greater than the werewolf.


	3. Chapter 3

Listen to what happened afterward. The werewolf had been with the king nearly a year, and many had long since forgotten the missing knight. Wherever the king went, the werewolf did not care to be apart from him, following his every order, and appearing to be just as noble and kind as his namesake had been. The king could see that the werewolf loved him just as well as he loved it, and the Lords had no heart to protest as their King finally started to come out of his melancholy.

Sir Sendak had become a more important subject for the knights of the kingdom to talk about at their meetings. He had yet to be invited to the castle, still having to prove his worth to the Lords and King. Many said that the king seemed not to favor him, and that it was because he held the position of the dear knight now thought to be dead, but it wasn’t just the King who was wary.

However, Sendak had done a great deal for the kingdom, his magic helping to produce more crops. He claimed this was the only magic he could do, and after a year everyone was beginning to believe him as he hoped. Even Allura and Coran, the most powerful magic users in the kingdom began to believe, but all the Lords agreed they must meet him before they could pass judgment. So the King threw a great feast to celebrate the bounty they had received in the past year. He allowed everyone the day off, all the way down to the poorest beggar.

It was a time of merriment, the Barons and Counts bringing their new wives or tottering children, people announced their engagements, even Allura and Shiro announced that they were to be married in the Spring. Many people teased the King about finding a partner, Lance took it in stride, flirting with unmarried lords and ladies with great zeal as they moved themselves temporarily into his castle, the werewolf always at his side, though he did not make a very good wingman. It only took a day or two for someone to suggest he marry the werewolf, and the werewolf seemed to howl with a strange despair at this joke, so much so that Lance had to pet his head and whisper to him to calm the beast.

Despite all the excitement, Lance and his court of knights were at the ready for Sendak’s arrival. It took him the longest, but when he did arrive, it was in a grand way, the air full of strange magics that none had ever felt before. He had been preparing for weeks for this, and in a moment, everyone was calm and warm and welcoming to Sendak, as if they’d never feared his betrayal in the first place. Everyone was at ease save for the werewolf, who shot out from his spot next to the King and attacked Sendak.

The werewolf ripped into Sendak’s arm and by the time the beast was pulled off Sendak, and the court turned on him, shouting awful things as the werewolf growled and backed away. But a voice lifted above the crowd, “wait! If the wolf has attacked him, it must be for some good reason. Do not harm the wolf for it was Sir Sendak who harmed him first.” It was Coran, the voice of reason, who was quickly supported by Allura.

“Coran is right,” she said, “the beast would not harm a soul until now, Sendak must have done something to it.”

Lance looked out on his court, and then into the eyes of his faithful companion and he could see that Allura was quite right. It was just then that Sendak’s new wife strode in, her dress purple and shining like an enemy flag, yet again the werewolf ran towards her. He pinned her down to the ground, the court gasping and gaping at the beast as it settled its great paw on her chest. Sendak was still on the ground reeling, too much to be able to speak with his wife before she began to scream.

“Oh!” She yelped and turned, trying to get out from under the paw, “oh! I knew that I had done something wrong. Please beast, I don’t know what compelled me to do it. Please! I will tell all and return you to the king properly.”

This got the beast to move, Coran and Allura working to seal Sendak in a bubble where he could not use magic. It was a quite a good decision, because the wife of Sendak was now telling of the way he’d toyed with her, playing mind games and using magic to compel her to do what he wanted. She cried and cried, so they believed her, but when they brought Sendak up to speak on his own behalf, he lied through his teeth, telling everyone that it was his wife who had gotten rid of her husband.

There was a great deal of arguing and confusion, Sendak trying to use a great deal of magic, finally, Coran put a stop to it, bringing the wolf out from where it had been locked up. He held the growling beast by the rough, but the werewolf did not fight Coran, being as gentle as it ever was with the people of Lance’s kingdom. His eyes fierce as the Court came to a hush for him. The sole protector of the wolf, Coran asked the King for permission to speak.


	4. Chapter 4

“My dear King,” said Coran, “I believe your wolf has been wronged by these two or at least has some grudge against them, that is all we know for sure, but I believe that maybe the wolf can give us some answers as well.”

“I think that is a good idea,” Lance said. He looked as if he had a rather bad headache, but he felt good knowing his knights had thought not to trust Sendak. If Lance were to be honest, his instincts told him that neither Sendak, nor his wife seemed trustworthy. If the wolf didn’t trust them, then Lance felt like he couldn’t either, but that wasn’t something he could tell his people. Not while Sendak had been attacked after seemingly doing nothing wrong. More than ever Lance missed his faithful knight Keith, who should be there in Sendak’s place, first this woman had taken Keith from Lance, and now she had brought him Sendak.

Coran walked the wolf in front of Sendak and his wife, the two of the looking more fearful than ever as the werewolf staggered under Coran’s hold. Leaning close to the wolf, Coran muttered, “pay attention now.”

Coran then shot straight up, speaking loud for the whole court to hear, “this wolf is no wolf. He is a knight in wolf’s clothing, I can tell and I swear on my life that this is the case. This woman was sent to woo a faithful knight, one dear to the King, and she managed to do just that with the charms that Sir Sendak put on her.” Coran was making a big show of describing what the two must have done to trap the knight somehow while the court watch. Many looked as though Coran was trying to convince the court of all this, but really, Coran was hoping that Lance would catch on.

“Once the woman had tricked the knight into being hers, Sir Sendak then stepped in, causing a rift between the two so that she would betray him, just as bewitched as the knight himself. That is the compulsion she describes so that the knight would leave his post, and Sir Sendak could step in,” Coran concluded. He looked at the werewolf and asked, “is this what happened?”

The werewolf barked and howled, jerking at Coran’s hold. There was no way the beast could get out, Coran was holding him by way of magic, Sir Sendak and Allura could see it, but most of the people of Lance’s court were non-magic users. So, when Sir Sendak growled back at the werewolf and Coran felt he had confirmed that Sendak had incriminated himself, he let the werewolf go, falling back and yelling so that all would think he had lost control of the beast.

The whole court watched, Lance’s eyes locked on the scene as he built himself up to believing the werewolf was his dear Keith. While they exchanged a look, the werewolf lashed out at Sendak again, biting down on his arm so hard that, as Sendak writhed in an attempt to get away, his arm came clean off in the werewolf’s mouth. Screeching and grasping at his missing arm, Sendak looked at his wife who now had the werewolf at her throat.

“I am sorry lord! Please, your clothes, they are in my trunk. I never meant for it to be this way! I am from Zarkon’s kingdom, I want to return, please, mercy” She sobbed, and the werewolf backed away from her, sitting down as the obedient servant he was and always had been.

“Fetch those clothes!” Lance called before anyone could react, but Hunk and Pidge jumped at the sound of his voice, running off to tear apart the trunk that Sendak’s wife had brought. “I want these two banished, they should be accepted back into Zarkon’s kingdom and tell the page who goes that he is to have the security in that area strengthened at my command.”

Pidge appeared with Hunk close on their heals, the werewolf’s clothes in their hands, holding them out to the king. “My lord, the lady was telling the truth, but these clothes, they belong to Keith, the missing Baron.”

“I had a feeling,” Lance said, taking the clothes from Pidge as Hunk smiled at him. Walking to the werewolf, Lance knelt down and presented the clothes to him, but the werewolf looked at them upset and confused, lying down in front of Lance. “These are your clothes, are they not?” Lance looked almost disappointed when the werewolf didn’t immediately turn back into his missing knight, the court watching with a great deal of interest, but then Coran stepped forward again.

“Sir, if you are holding his clothes, he would probably be quite naked when he turned back into a human. Maybe you should give him some privacy.” Coran was standing near Lance now, his eyebrow up as he crossed his wrists behind his back. The king responded with a bit of a grumble, but admitted Coran was right ordering him to take the clothes and the werewolf to his quarters where he could be left alone.

The king waited impatiently in his throne room, pacing back and forth while Pidge and Hunk did their best to calm him, but nothing worked like Coran finally telling him it was okay to check on the werewolf. Anxiety in his stomach, the king quickly went to his quarters and flung the door open to find Keith asleep on his bed, his clothes as they should be and no wolf to be found.

Closing the door, the king approached Keith and woke him with a kiss, his hands in Keith’s soft and slightly matted hair. “I knew you would always be faithful to me,” the king said, kissing Keith over and over again, falling into Keith’s arms. “Why did you never tell me that you were a werewolf?”

“I could only ever be faithful to you my lord.” Keith kissed the king back, “I never thought you would accept me as I am my lord. I tried to be as normal as possible, but I fell into a trap by blindly trying to be something that wasn’t me. I’m so sorry my King, I failed you.”

“You didn’t fail me,” Lance said, kissing Keith again and again, “you’re the most faithful companion that I’ve ever had.”

After that, Keith became his personal guard, helping the king to rule his kingdom and there was much prosperity in these times. So much so, that Lance became know as King Lance of Lions, which in their kingdom symbolized prosperity. But many were confused this name, because Lance’s shield always bore the symbol of a wolf, and his name became lost to the ages leaving only the remarkable tale of the werewolf behind.

And so the lai goes, the werewolf may be a wild beast, but he will always be faithful.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants to chatter about Medieval and Arthurian poetry please feel free to drop me a message here or on Tumblr. I'd love you forever, my Tumblr is the same as my name on here! galaxiebot :3


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